My brain is starting to itch its way toward planning for the coming school year. This is probably the reality of staying home and starting to get stir crazy, but with only 36 days until Institute Day – I am feeling the crunch and I will not even be back right away for maternity leave. EEK!

Here are my thoughts going into 8th grade math this year.

Regular math: We did not finish all the CC Standards for 7th grade last year so we will be starting with the one standard we really did not cover, Geometry. Luckily we already planned a self-paced unit at the end of the year for our Advanced Math class on these standards. We will then follow up with the 8th grade Geometry Standards.

My advanced math class would start with one concept we never got to in 7th grade and that is Similar figures and proportionality then we would go into the 8th grade Geometry described above. We will cover the information in the same order, but with more complex problems and more in depth than the regular math class.

**This is the only area I am still uncertain about because they would really need an understanding of radicals and that is part of the Number System Standards. We could introduce that concept there and then continue Number System later OR we could keep Pythagorean Theorem for part of Number System and when we get to radicals go back to Pythagorean Theorem.

After this we would go into Number System, then Expressions/Equations, and Functions. The Bivariate Unit is back for us and in the past there have been many scatter plot questions on the big tests. Now that the tests are changing – who knows.

Standardized Tests

My theory has always been that I can’t cover everything before the standardized tests. There is no possible way if I want my students to actually understand what I teach that they will be able to learn all of it. After the first few years teaching, I came to the conclusion that I will do what I can to cover most of the material, but I will not jeopardize student learning. By learning – I mean actual learning and understanding.

I hope that makes sense. Trust me. I know that my teaching could be held to those tests and I know that in an ideal world I would be able to cover all the topics. But, in an ideal world, my students would not have so many learning gaps and misunderstandings of math. I still have students who NEED a calculator to do basic facts. They never fully understood their addition facts and how to group, which led to not fully understanding any of the other operations. Because the Illinois State Tests (ISAT) in the past, allowed a calculator from 3rd grade on – they never had a need to truly learn them and understand their facts. I hope that with the changes being made that things will improve. I would be definitely a proponent of a four function calculator only for certain problems. It is not that I hate calculators, but I feel students do not know when they actually need them and when they should use their common sense or knowledge of facts.

Ok – done with my random rant/ramble. Thanks for listening!

July 10 – Teaching idols: Well, I have had a couple amazing teachers in my past.

First – you should all know I went to St. Patricia School in Hickory Hills, IL. I would say the first one that stood out to me was my 2nd grade teacher. I remember feeling completely safe and pushed to achieve in her class. But, mostly I remember being in 7th and 8th grade and helping her in her classroom everyday after school. I was able to appreciate all that she did when I saw it from that perspective!

I also loved one of my 5th/6th grade teachers – Mrs. Casper – who taught us science and was great at giving us hands on experiences! We got to dissect an owl pellet, touch a cows tongue, touch and see pig intestines, etc.

In 7th/8th grade we had a great SS teacher – Mrs. Califfe (now the principal at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Chicago. Mostly I remember her expectations and her care for us outside of the classroom as the NJHS moderator. She would expect the best from us in the classroom (constitution tests) and outside as she made sure we did all we could as a NJHS and behaved while doing so (oops on the annual car wash – haha)

Second – I went to Nazareth Academy HS in La Grange Park, IL. Over the years I had many great teachers! I would say the teacher that stood out the most and has impacted my teaching the most was Mr. Mike. He taught Humanities History Honors and that was the first time I ever understood the history I was learning. He taught about all the kings and queens and aspects as a story! His tests would be paragraphs with blanks in them and he expected you to remember the story and fill int he missing words. Sadly, he passed away 2 years ago.

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This is me!

I taught for 7 years as a 7th and 8th grade math teacher in Berwyn, IL! That district is 1:1 and high needs. I also taught 5th and 7th grade math teacher at Pleasantdale Middle School in Burr Ridge, IL. I am currently the Innovative Teaching Coach in Pleasantdale School District where I work with the staff at the Elementary and Middle school to transform units with the help of technology.